The Master Potter

Elder Heber C. Kimball was a blacksmith and a potter by trade. He earned his living by the sweat of his brow. But being a potter requires considerable perseverance and knowledge. In Elder Kimball’s time, the only way to learn such a skill was as an apprentice to someone who had mastered the craft, and it is usually a hard-won skill, requiring many hours of practice and failure, before mastery comes. For some few, however, it comes naturally, less a skill than a talent.


An article in the May 12, 1990 LDS Church News called “Potter Became Apostle of Jesus Christ” describes his progress thusly:

Elder Kimball moved to the Mendon, New York area in 1820 where he was apprenticed to his older brother Charles, an established potter. Heber had already apprenticed as a blacksmith with his father.
Soon after his November 1822 marriage to Vilate Murray, Heber bought out his brother's pottery and went into business for himself.
As a potter, he sought out quality clay with high silica content. The energetic Heber could turn out 20 dozen milk pans on a hard day at the potter's wheel.
He specialized in common earthenware made from fine-textured clay and covered by a hard brown glaze, It was used mainly for simple kitchen and table items - jars, crocks, pitchers, bottles, mugs, pots, milk pans, cups, churns and plates.

I too am a potter. It has been a hobby for me, off and on, since 1973. For me the process of throwing, firing, and glazing pots is very calming, creative, and symbolic. I have no proof that this was true of Elder Kimball, but even after his conversion to the gospel and despite his many callings and commitments, I would like to think that he continued to throw, at least part-time, for the rest of his life, because it seems that the process gets into the blood. Feeling the clay rise on the wheel, seeing a pleasant form emerge from the application of the proper pressure from my hands, and opening the kiln after the glaze firing continue to be exciting for me after nearly 40 years.

The process of throwing requires that the lump of clay be attached to the wheel head by literally slamming it down. The potter must then apply considerable force as the wheel rotates to center the lump exactly. Water is used as a lubricant during the entire throwing process. When the clay is centered, the potter opens the centered lump with his fingers or thumbs while the wheel rotates. The potter can then begin to form the clay by spreading the opening and lifting the clay to form a cylinder. At this point, the shape is still simple. But eventually, with the proper application of pressure, the cylinder can be fashioned into a bowl, plate, vase, or whatever other shape the potter desires. With skill and care, a lump of clay can become beautiful and useful. The clay is in need of the potter’s skill – it cannot shape itself.

When Elder Kimball needed clay, he had to find a good clay bed, dig up the raw clay, strengthen the clay body with sand, grog, and chemicals, age it, and store it where it would not lose its moisture until it was used. When he needed glazes, he formulated them from materials at hand. Colors came from iron oxides, lead, potash, salt, and other common compounds. When he needed a wheel or a kiln, he had to build it. Such was the life of any artisan of those times.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Paul all use the analogy of the potter to describe the shaping and molding process that the Savior applies to us. We are centered, shaped, and formed by the Gospel plan and by the Savior’s infinite love for us.

Isaiah said:

But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

The Lord told Jeremiah:

Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. (Jeremiah 18:2)

Jeremiah describes his experience as follows:

Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. (Jeremiah 18:3-6)

Paul asks an interesting question in Romans 9:21:

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

As recorded in Whitney's Life of Heber C. Kimball, Elder Kimball interprets these scriptures in this way:

The potter tried to bring a lump of clay into subjection, and he worked and tugged at it, but the clay was rebellious and would not submit to the will of the potter, and marred in his hands. Then of course he had to cut it from the wheel and throw it into the mill to be ground over in order that it might become passive; after which he takes it again and makes of it a vessel unto honor, out of the same lump that was dishonored.

Jeremiah spoke of the clay being marred –Paul’s epistle to the Romans speaks of clay becoming a vessel of dishonor. When we resist the Master Potter’s gentle but consistent shaping, we become a “vessel of dishonor.” But the Master Potter does not discard His clay, He reworks it in the mill to be seasoned for a time. Then it is retrieved, and as Jeremiah said, “…he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.” The Lord will never discard us. He will always be willing to give us more time to repent and accept his influence in our lives. As we repent, humble ourselves, and seek the Lord, He will reshape us into something fit for the kingdom.

The analogy of the Master Potter reinforces understanding of the Lord’s covenant relationship with his people. The Savior’s talent as the Master Potter was His from the beginning. He developed His mastery through His transcendence in the pre-existence, His mortal ministry, His infinite love, and His atonement.

He knows that we are all good clay, with infinite potential, but raw and in need of refining. He adds the strengtheners, helps us to grow and mature, and shapes us into a thing of beauty, far more than the useless lump we could be without Him. Indeed, the clay cannot shape itself.

Finally, he glazes us in the refiner’s fire so that we can dwell with the father. The Savior rightly says about the clay of our mortal lives, “Without me, ye can do nothing.” (John 5:15)